Canadian Government Announces Project to Install Retaining Wall in Port-Daniel-Gascons

Transport Canada announces investment into improving rail safety and reducing climate change impacts.

Canadian National

PORT-DANIEL-GASCONS, Quebec – The government of Canada announces its commitment to rail safety and a project to install a retaining wall in Port-Daniel-Gascons in Quebec.

The government of Canada has announced its effort to invest in rail safety in conjunction with reducing impacts of climate change. The Minister of Transport and the Minister of National Revenue and Member of Parliament for Gaspésie have “announced a multi-year investment of more than $10 million for a rail infrastructure project in Port-Daniel-Gascons, Quebec.”

The announcement goes into detail about the project. Along with the installation of a wall with a 75-year lifespan to “protect the cliffs along the coastline against further erosion and possibly collapsing”, the plan includes repairing track, building a ditch between the road and tracks, and the installation of a “water drainage system beneath the tracks (on the side of the retaining wall).”

The work comes at the hope of increasing rail safety as “nearby roads and a portion of the Gaspésie Railway are vulnerable to waves, storms, and flooding during severe weather events.” Along with this project is a “total of 39 projects across Canada” that were “approved under the new Climate Change and Adaptation to Extreme Weather Infrastructure component of the Rail Safety Improvement Program (RSIP), for a total investment of over $29 million over the next three years.”

The RSIP funds local governments, academia, Indigenous groups, and other groups to help improve rail safety. Since the RSIP started in 2016, around “800 projects have been funded across Canada for a total investment of over $160 million.”